Wings of Knowledge: The Dragonet Prophecy
by ImpossibleNightmare
Summary: A mysterious force of dragons has successfully executed its mission. All the plot important characters have gathered to read the Wings of Fire series. Your typical reading-the-books fanfiction. I have not seen one with Wings of Fire, so I decided to write my own.
1. Mission Accomplished

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Wings of Fire.

 **Author's Note:** This is a reading the story fanfiction. I have yet see a Wings of Fire story like this, so I thought I'd give it a shot!

* * *

Like most of these reading-the-books fanfiction, we must gather all of the plot-important characters of the book. So let us begin with that task.

It helped that an assembly was currently being held at Jade Mountain Academy. Many of the plot important characters were already gathered there, so this made our job much easier.

However, because the assembly has only just begun, we can first worry about the characters _not_ there. Our associates are currently working to gather these characters:

1\. Queen Glory and Deathbringer, Jambu, Mangrove, Orchid, and Bromeliad, the former RainWing queens Dazzling, Magnificent, and Splendor, plus several other RainWings for Glory's protection (Deathbringer will insist).

2\. Secretkeeper, Greatness, Stonemover, Fierceteeth, Strongwings, Mastermind, Foeslayer, Darkstalker (who we will disguise, just in case anyone recognizes him), and Obsidian.

3\. Queen Coral, Princess Anemone, Princess Auklet, Manta, Shark, Pike, the thirty-one other princes, Nautilus, Squid, and Riptide.

4\. Queen Moorhen, Cattail, Reed, Pheasant, Sora (who will be under the strictest protection, just to ensure that nothing will happen to her), and Marsh.

5\. Queen Glacier, Tundra, Narwhal, Lynx, Snowfall, Hailstorm (in both forms), and Icicle (who will also be under the strictest protection, to ensure that she will do nobody harm).

6\. Queen Ruby, Prince Cliff, Vermillion, Chameleon (in Soar's form), and several guards.

7\. Queen Thorn, Six-Claws, Qibli's family (who will have security), Addax, Blaze, Smolder, and several other former Outclaws.

8\. From the past, Queen Oasis, Princesses Burn and Blister, Hvitur, Asha, Kestrel, Dune, Queen Scarlett, Osprey, Horizon, Fjord, Whirlpool, Crocodile, Palm, Vengeance, Viper, Queen Battlewinner, Preyhunter, Farsight, Morrowseer, Carnelian, and Bigtail.*

*Several of these dragons will be under security for safety precautions.

Aha, here we go. Our removal operation has been successful. We have gotten all of the dragon(et)s we need to begin this task. We will now intrude upon the Jade Mountain assembly and ensure Starflight and Clay that we mean no harm. Which is good, because I have always wanted to say that!

We begin now with the happy reunions some dragons are holding at seeing ones they love. Winter is particularly glad to see Hailstorm safe and sound and trying not to show it. Thorn looks less than thrilled to see the dead SandWings Blister and Burn return from the dead. Queen Ruby is showing similar delight at the sight of her mother.

And now comes the task of explaining why we have brought over all the dragons, and additionally who we are. We will not be telling you who we are, as that is extremely classified information and cannot be shared on the internet. We thank you for your understanding.

Fatespeaker now accepts the first book of the Wings of Fire series, the Dragonet Prophecy, from our talons. We tell them that we will be on our way, but like most reading the book fanfiction, we also add that they are not allowed to leave until they have finished reading everything. When asked how we will enforce this, we mysteriously reply that we have our ways and leave dramatically.

Our mission is accomplished. And so it begins...

* * *

Just FYI, the next chapter will not be told from this weird point of view! Thanks for reading.


	2. Prologue

I do not own Wings of Fire. The bolded words and the characters are not my own.

I also found the prologue, so here it is!

* * *

" **Prologue,"** read Fatespeaker. "Ooh, Burn's in this."

"Finally, something interesting!" Burn cried. "If it's about me, then I'll read it." Before Fatespeaker could reply, Burn tore the book from the NightWing's talons.

"How rude," Thorn huffed, but made no move to grab the book back. Burn began to read.

 **A dragon was trying to hide in the storm.**

"Gasp!" Kinkajou yelled.

"Why are you gasping?" Glory asked.

Kinkajou found that she had no answer.

 **Lightning flickered across the dark clouds. Hvitur...**

 **"Oh no," the mentioned dragon muttered. What was he doing? What had he done? What was going**

 **clutched his fragile cargo closer. If he could make it over the mountains, he's be safe. He'd escaped the sky dragons' palace unseen.**

"No one caught you?" Scarlet asked, raising her dragon brow. "How thrilling. I'll have to have a little talk with the guards..."

 **And the secret cave was so close...**

Again, several dragons from the past, and even a few from the future, like Coral, leaned forward, wanting to learn the location of the secret cave that had housed/would house the dragon etc of destiny.

 **But his theft had not been as stealthy as he thought...**

Scarlet's tail flicked in disappointment. Perhaps she couldn't kill the guards under the excuse that they'd failed her. _I'm queen,_ she thought. _I can do anything I want without an excuse._

 **...and eyes as black as obsidian were already tracking him from below.**

"SkyWings don't have black eyes," Starflight remarked.

Hmm, Scarlet thought. Maybe I actually do have an excuse now...whatever, I'm still going to kill those guards in a THRILLING fashion."

 **The enormous dragon on the mountain ledge had pale gold scales that radiated heat like a desert horizon.**

"Burn," Blister guessed. "You'd better stop that thief. It'll be the one right thing you ever did."

Burn hissed atbher sister. "That's one more right thing than you, Blister."

 **Her black eyes narrowed, watching the gleam of silver wings far up in the clouds.**

Glacier narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What is an IceWing doing in the Sky Kingdom, stealing an egg? I never ordered any of my soldiers to do that."

Hvitur winced. "I wasn't one of your soldiers."

"He worked with the Talons of Peace," Asha added.

Glacier glared at Hvitur. "What did you say your name was?"

Hvitur winced again. "Hvitur."

"Ah, a Fifth Circle member," Glacier said. "You were the dragon who disappeared from that outpost, weren't you?"

"We spent weeks searching for you," Narwhal added. "Or at least, the dragons who cared enough about you did."

"Way harsh," Qibli said. "We know where Winter gets it from now."

"HEY!" Winter yelled angrily.

 **She flicked her tail, and behind her two more dragons rose to the sky and dove into the heart of the storm. A piercing shriek echoed off the mountains as their talons seized the moon-pale ice dragon.**

Hvitur winced. This did not sound good for his health, any part of it.

 **"Bind his mouth," the waiting dragon ordered as her soldiers dropped Hvitur on the slick, wet ledge in front of her. He was already inhaling, ready to attack. "Quickly!"**

 **One of the soldiers grabbed a chain from the pile of smoldering coals.**

Many IceWings couldn't repress a shudder at the mention of coals. No cold dragon was a fan of heat, and several of them were sympathetic towards Hvitur.

 **He threw it around the ice dragon's snout, clamping his jaws together with a sizzling smell of burning scales.**

More winced, and from other dragon tribes as well.

 **Hvitur let out a muffled scream.**

Hvitur was whimpering now in a very unmanly fashion.

 **"Too late." The sand dragon's forked tongue slithered in and out of her mouth. "You won't be using your freezing-death breath on us, ice dragon."**

"It's not freezing-death breath," Winter said, affronted. "It's frost breath that can kill a dragon."

"So, freezing-death breath," Qibli concluded. Winter puffed some freezing-death breath in the SandWing's direction.

 **"He was carrying this, Queen Burn..."**

"AHA! So I am queen!" Burn declared triumphantly, interrupting herself.

"Um, I actually think the soldier was just calling you that because you ordered your soldiers to do so," Thorn corrected harshly.

Burn pouted, sticking her tongue out very immaturely at Thorn, who reciprocated the action.

Both Qibli, Blister, and Blaze found this very amusing.

 **...said one of the soldiers, handing her a dragon egg.**

"Oh no," Sunny said. "I have a terrible feeling about this!"

Thorn stuck her tongue back into her mouth, and she and several other dragons now glared menacingly at Burn, who continued to read the book nonchalantly.

 **Burn squinted at the egg through the downpour. "This is not an IceWing egg," she hissed.**

"Wow, you are super observant," Hvitur commented drily. He looked unhappy still with his future capture, but appeared trying hard to lighten the tense mood.

"Yeah, I mean, lots of dragons carry around random dragon eggs on them all the time!" Asha added. The two dragons looked at each other and smiled.

 **"You stole this from the SkyWing palace."**

"And the excellent observations continue!" Hvitur grinned.

"You should be a detective, Burn," Asha added.

Kestrel, Webs, and Dune looked at each other sadly. They missed Hvitur and Asha. They had been the two dragons who had wanted dragonets the most, and the two dragons that had really kept the five original guardians together. It wasn't fair they'd died.

Clay, meanwhile, was looking at Asha and wishing she hadn't died. She seemed like a good guardian, much better than the three he'd grown up with. And Hvitur also didn't seem too bad.

 **The IceWing stared back at her. Hissing steam circled his snout where the hot chains met cold silver scales.**

Many dragons winced at this description.

 **"You thought you got away unnoticed, didn't you?" Burn said. "My SkyWing ally is not a fool.**

"Of course I'm not!" Scarlet hissed, exposing her teeth.

 **Queen Scarlet knows everything that happens in her kingdom.**

"Of course I do," Scarlet said. "My subjects may not be _nearly_ as thrilling as I am, but I always monitor them carefully, in case they do something completely awful and end up in my arena, where I can watch them die _thrillingly._ "

"How thrilling," Glory commented.

 **Her lookouts reported an IceWing thief sneaking away, and I decided finding you might add some violence to my boring visit."**

"You are the only one who needs any violence," Six-Claws informed the SandWing, glaring. "I may not have fought in the war, but news of it reaches the Outclaws quickly and efficiently. We hear about the horribleness you and your sisters have caused in the once peaceful Pyrrhia."

"This war is important," Burn said simply.

"So important you need to drag all but two of the tribes into your throne skirmish?" Six-Claws shot back.

"YES!" all three sisters yelled, and then glared at each other because they didn't like the fact that they'd agreed on something. Then Blaze got distracted by a butterfly, Blister decided her sisters weren't worth the time when war wasn't involved, and Burn continued reading.

 **Burn held the large egg up to the light of the fire and turned it slowly. Red and gold shimmered below the pale, smooth surface.**

 **"Yes. This is a SkyWing egg about to hatch," Burn mused.**

"You don't miss a single detail, Detective Burn," Hvitur said.

"Oh yes, she has such a good eye, and can solve the most impossible mysteries!" Asha added. The other dragons in the assembly cave looked at them weirdly, but they were lost in their own strange world.

 **"Why would my sister send you to steal a SkyWing dragonet? Blaze hates any dragon younger and prettier than she is."**

"That's not true!" Blaze huffed. "No one is younger or prettier than me!"

Most of the dragons rolled their eyes.

 **She thought for a moment as rain drummed on the ledge around them. "Unless ... the brightest night is tomorrow ..."**

"Three moons, where are you getting this information from?" Hvitur asked.

"I tell you, she knows all!" Asha declared, waving her talons about frantically.

 **Her tail flicked up like a scorpion's, the poisonous barb inches from Hvitur's eyes.**

Briefly breaking out of his role, Hvitur winced at the proximity of the SandWing's deadly tail barb.

 **"You're not in Blaze's army, are you? You're one of those insipid underground _peace_ mongers."**

"We are not peacemongers!" Nautilus and Riptide said at the same time.

"Say what you want, peacemongers," Scarlet sneered. "You hide under the mountains like cowards."

"Actually, that's not true," Riptide began.

"Don't tell them anything about our organization!" Nautilus cut him off.

 **"The Talons of Peace?" said one of the soldiers. "You mean they're real?"**

"Wait, dragons didn't believe we were real?" asked Riptide.

"Back then, we were just rumors," said Nautilus. "Something that might've been made up by hopeful dragons who wanted the war to end quickly and believed in the prophecy."

"Because they are made up by hopeful dragons who want the war to be over and believe in a NightWing's stupid rhyming words!" Burn snapped.

"I AM NOT A STUPID NIGHTWING," Morrowseer hissed.

"I didn't say you were," Burn retorted.

 **Burn snorted. "A few worms crying over a little blood.**

"WE ARE NOT WORMS!" Nautilus and Riptide declared. "It's a good thing Avalanche and Cirrus aren't here. They'd have your heads for that comment!"

Chameleon/Soar/Cirrus shifted uncomfortably.

"I doubt you'll have my heads, seeing as I only have one," Burn said.

 **Unwrap his chains. He won't be able to freeze us until his scales cool down." The enormous sand dragon leaned closer as her soldier pulled the chain away. "Tell me, ice dragon, do you really believe in that pompous old NightWing's prophecy?"**

"I AM NOT A POMPOUS OLD NIGHTWING!" Morrowseer hissed, affronted.

"And, yes, yes I do believe in that prophecy," Hvitur said, conviction in his voice. His former fright appeared to have evaporated.

 **"Haven't enough dragons died for your war?" snarled Hvitur, wincing at the pain in his jaws.**

Hvitur straightened up, pleased to hear himself stand up to Burn. Asha gave him a sidelong, sympathetic glance. Her eyes looked worried.

 **"All of Pyrrhia has suffered for the last twelve ears. The prophecy says -"**

"The prophecy says, the prophecy says," Scarlet muttered, rolling her eyes. "What about what I say?"

"No one cares what you say," Peril snapped, and then covered her mouth with her talons, shocked at the tone of her voice.

Scarlet blinked at her in surprise, but Burn read on before anything else could happen.

 **"I don't care. No prophecy decides what happens to me," Burn interrupted. "I'm not letting a bunch of words or baby dragons choose when I die or what I bow to.**

"The prophecy is destiny," Asha said. "It'll come true no matter what."

Several of the future dragons snorted at this comment.

Sunny frowned. "You say the prophecy didn't come true, but it really did, in a way!"

"DON'T SPOIL ANYTHING!" Glory ordered.

 **We can have peace when my sisters are dead and _I_ am the queen of the SandWings."**

Oasis frowned. "I always knew my daughters were competitive when it came to the throne, but I didn't know how little love they held for each other, and that their fight would evolve into...war..."

 **Her venomous tail dipped closer to the silver dragon.**

Hvitur winced again.

 **Rain pattered on Hvitur's scales. He glared up at her. "The dragonets are coming, whether you like it or not, and they'll choose who the next SandWing queen should be."**

"Yeah! Go Hvitur!" cheered Tsunami. The other dragons looked at her weirdly, except for Hvitur, who beamed at her.

 **"Really?" Burn stepped back and turned the egg slowly between her talons. Her forked tongue slipped in and out of her smile. "So, IceWing. Is this egg a part of your pathetic prophecy?"**

Several dragons realized what she intended to to do.

Kestrel narrowed her eyes at the large SandWing, even though she already knew what had become of the egg and the dragon who'd stolen it. "You wouldn't," she hissed.

Thorn agreed. "Leave it alone! You wouldn't harm an unhatched dragonet!"

"Enough dragons have died in the war," added Asha, her eyes sparkling angrily as she glared harshly at Burn. "You don't need to kill an innocent dragonet just to satisfy your crazy bloodthirsty ways."

Burn frowned as if she didn't understand what the others were saying to her. "But I do!"

 **Hvitur went still.**

Other dragons growled. It had now dawned on many what Burn intended to do.

 **Burn tapped lightly on the eggshell with one long talon. "Hello?" she called. "Is there a dragonet of destiny in there? Ready to come out and end this big bad war?"**

 **"Leave it alone," Hvitur choked out.**

 **"Tell me," Burn said, "what becomes of your precious prophecy ... if one of the five dragonets is never hatched at all?"**

Burn should've probably been more concerned for her safety, as it appeared most of the dragons, excluding Blister, who was smirking sinisterly, Scarlet, who was boredly examining her talons, Blaze, who was still watching the butterfly, Morrowseer, who looked distinctly uninterested, and Battlewinner, who could care less about anything happening, looked ready to attack the large SandWing and rip her to pieces for what she'd done/was about to do.

 **"You wouldn't," he said. "No one would harm a dragon egg."**

The dragons who had dragonets all nodded their head vigorously, as if they hoped to change the upcoming event.

 **His blue eyes were fixed desperately on her talons.**

 **"No 'wings of sky' to help save the world," Burn said. "What a sad, sad story." She began tossing the egg from one claw to the other. "I guess that means you should be very, very careful with this _terribly_ important little - oops!"**

"NO!" there was a collective shout of disbelief.

 **With an exaggerated lunge, Burn pretended the wet egg was slipping from her talons ... and then she let it fall over the side of the cliff into the rocky darkness below.**

"How could you?" Thorn had jumped up, and she now stood at her full height. She was still small compared to Burn's enormous girth, but she radiated anger, and was quite intimidating.

Burn had a sadistic smile on her face. "Oh, that was such a delightful thing to read about," she smirked.

"I knew you weren't fit to be queen before," Smolder remarked, "but now I know for sure. You didn't deserve to be called 'Queen Burn' even though you were never queen. You're hardly fit to be royalty."

"I'll kill you!" Thorn shouted, her anger escaping. "I'll kill you like you killed that egg!"

Stonemover and Smolder both jumped to her side. "We'd help you if it comes to that, but she's not worth it. Sit down."

Thorn was breathing heavily. "Fine. Fine. My satisfaction is knowing what happens to you."

Burn looked momentarily cowed ("COWS!" Clay moaned at the thought) but quickly gained control of her emotions. She went on reading.

 **"No!" Hvitur shrieked.** **He threw off the two soldiers...**

"Why didn't I do that earlier?" he asked, facetaloning.

 **...and flung himself toward the edge. Burn slammed her massive claws down on his neck.**

Hvitur let out a strangled gasp as if her talons really were on his neck, strangling the life out of him.

Asha was looking increasingly worried, while Kestrel, Webs, and Dune looked down at the ground sadly. They'd gotten over the IceWing's death some time ago, but hearing about it caused their grief to come back.

 **"So much for destiny," she smirked. "So much for your tragic little movement."**

"We proved you wrong!" Riptide hissed. "Our movement was neither tragic nor little!"

"As much as I dislike Burn," Coral commented hastily, "I still don't like the Talons of Peace."

"You ruined the moment, Mother," Tsunami sighed.

 **"You're a monster," the IceWing gasped...**

"We already knew that," Starflight said, shaking his head.

Burn looked around, taking in the sight of all the young dragonets surrounding her. She then said something rather out of character. "This next part is kind of gruesome. I'd recommend covering young dragonet's ears, or if you're squeamish, don't listen."

Needless to say, several dragons were shocked that she hadn't plunged right into the violent part.

Also needless to say, Coral immediately attempted to cover Auklet and Anemone's ears.

 **...writhing under her talons. His voice cracked with despair. "We'll never give up. The dragonets - the dragonets will come and stop this war."**

 **Burn leaned down to hiss into his ear. "Even if they do - it'll be far too late for you."**

Dragons looked down, bracing themselves for what they knew was coming.

 **Her claws ripped through the silver dragon's wings, shredding them as Hvitur shrieked in agony.**

Winces. Hvitur folded his wings close around his body.

 **With a swift movement, she stabbed her poisonous tail through his skull and flung the long, silver body over the edge of the cliff.**

"NO!" Asha screamed. She refused to believe her friend was dead. "You're such a monster! I hate you!" She flung herself at the SandWing, but Hvitur and Kestrel dragged her away before a real fight could start. They pinned the thrashing MudWing to the ground until she stopped fighting. Asha's fit subsided into silent tears.

 **The ice dragon's screams cut off long before the echoes of his corpse slamming into the rocks below.**

Silence spread through the cave. Even Burn had the decency to feel a brief flash of guilt for what she'd done. There was silence as many dragons digested what had just happened and how cruelly had Hvitur met his death. The dragon himself was looking down. He was dead. It was hard to believe.

Asha continued to cry silently. She wrapped her wings tightly around her ice dragon friend. Nautilus stepped forward.

"Hvitur will always be remembered for what he has brought to the Talons of Peace," he said, his voice grave. "And he behaved nobly in the face of death."

Riptide nodded.

Glacier spoke next. Her voice was cold (no pun intended), but underneath her harsh tone was a glimmer of admiration and respect. "You may have deserted your outpost and turned on your tribe, but you behaved like a true IceWing in the end. We will remember you."

Burn decided she couldn't take the emotions anymore and continued.

 **The SandWing turned her black eyes to her soldiers. "Perfect," she said. "That should be the last we hear about that stupid prophecy."**

"Ha, you wish!" Tsunami said. "We will haunt you down, and then haunt you until you die, and then we will find you in the dragon afterlife and continue to haunt you until you die there!"

"We've already fulfilled the prophecy, Tsunami," Starflight said. "We didn't do that. And also, there's no evidence of a dragon afterlife."

 **She held out her talons so that the rain could was away the glistening dragon blood.**

More winces. A few sick looks at the mention of blood.

 **"Let's go find something else to kill."**

"Killing one dragon wasn't enough for you?" Asha snapped angrily.

"Normally I kill several per day, if I'm lucky," Burn said carelessly.

Asha hissed venomously.

"Not worth it," Thorn told her, repeating what Stonemover and Smolder had told her. She liked this MudWing and couldn't help wonder about what had happened to her.

 **The three dragons spread their wings and lifted off into the dark clouds.**

 **Some time later, far below, a large dragon the color of rust crawled over the rocks to the broken body of the ice dragon.**

There was another brief silence in remembrance of Hvitur.

"I bet that's Kestrel," Tsunami declared, disrupting the quiet.

 **She nudged his tail aside and lifted a shard of eggshell from underneath it, then slipped back into the labyrinth of caves under the cliffs.**

"You know, it never expressly states that the SkyWing egg shattered," Starflight observed. "So technically speaking, the egg may have survived the fall, and a dragonet may have hatched from it. Perhaps he or she is still alive."

Webs shook his head. "Nothing could survive that fall. If Burn didn't love killing things in violent manners so much, she could've just flung Hvitur off the cliff. He would've been killed in the fall."

Hvitur winced again at the mention of his death.

 **Stone walls brushed against her wings. She breathed out a plume of flame to light her way along the dark passage, deep into the mountain.**

 **"I stand with the Talons of Peace," hissed a voice in the shadows. "Kestrel? Is that you?"**

"Told you," Tsunami said to no one in particular. She appeared to be the first one to have gotten over the death they had just read about.

 **"We await the wings of fire," answered the red dragon.**

"Ugh, saying that was so cheesy," Kestrel complained.

"Security measures," Dune said gruffly.

 **A blue-green SeaWing emerged from a side cave, and she tossed the eggshell at his feet. "Not that it'll do us much good now," she snarled. "Hvitur is dead."**

Another wince from the IceWing. Asha's tears resumed.

 **The SeaWing stared at the eggshell. "But - the SkyWing egg -"**

 **"Broken," she said. "Gone. It's over, Webs."**

"Aw, don't be a downer," Kinkajou said. "It still worked out!"

"Didn't seem like it would at the time," Webs recalled.

 **"It can't be," he said. "Tomorrow is the brightest night. The three moons will all be full for the first time in a century. The dragonets of the prophecy _have_ to hatch tomorrow."**

 **"Well, one of them is already dead," Kestrel said. Rage flickered in her eyes. "I knew I should have stolen the SkyWing egg myself. I know the Sky Kingdom. They wouldn't have caught me a second time."**

"A second time...?" several of the dragons who didn't know Kestrel's history asked.

"Long story, so it will be in the books probably," Peril said bluntly.

Kestrel looked at her daughter, unsure what Peril thought of her. Peril had been so uncaring and straightforward when they'd parted ways in the Sky Kingdom.

 **Webs grimaced, scratching one claw over the gills along his neck. "Asha is dead, too."**

"NO!" Now it was Hvitur's turn to scream the word. He looked at his friend in dismay. She stared back at him in horror and grief too.

Kestrel, Dune, and Webs exchanged pain stricken looks, not bothering to hide their emotions from the watching crowd of dragons, and Clay looked sad too.

 **"Asha?" A spurt of flame shot from Kestrel's nose. "How?"**

 **"Caught in a battle between Blaze's and Blister's forces on the way here.**

"Stupid war," was the general murmur.

 **She still made it with the red MudWing egg, but she died of her wounds soon after."**

"At least the dragonet survived," Asha said, determined not to dwell on her death. For some reason, she was more shaken over Hvitur's death than her own.

 **"So it's just you, me, and Dune to raise the little worms," Kestrel growled.**

"WE'RE NOT WORMS!" yelled the dragonets of destiny, including Sunny.

"It's an expression," Kestrel said.

 **"For a prophecy that can never be fulfilled. Let's break the cursed eggs now and be done with it.**

"You wouldn't do that!" Thorn said in alarm. Her egg-Sunny-was among them. "If you did that, you'd be no better than Burn!"

"I take offense to that," Burn said.

"I didn't realize you were capable of being offended," Thorn said drily, before turning her attention back to Kestrel. "If anything, return the eggs to where you got them."

 _Then I'll see Sunny grow up,_ her heart and head added.

 **We'll be long gone before the Talons of Peace return for the dragonets."**

 **"No!" Webs hissed. "Keeping the dragonets alive for the next eight years is more important than anything.**

"As much as I dislike Webs, I think he was our best guardian," Starflight remarked. Both Kestrel and Dune felt slightly wounded by this remark, but refused to show any emotion.

"Agreed," Clay said. "At least he was kind."

Webs felt warmed by this comment, and then saw that both Glory and Tsunami were glaring hostilely at him, along with Coral.

 **If you don't want to be part of that -"**

 **"All right, enough," Kestrel snapped. "I'm the strongest dragon in the Talons of Peace.**

"And the humblest," added Webs.

"Shut up," the SkyWing snapped.

 **You need me.**

"Totally humble!"

"SHUT UP!"

 **It doesn't matter how I feel about the nasty little dragonets." She eyed the eggshell on the floor, rubbing her scarred palms together. Although I thought at least one of them would be a SkyWing."**

"I'm sorry I disappointed you," Glory snapped.

 **"I'll find us a fifth dragonet." Webs pushed past her, scales scraping against rock.**

Glory glared at him, and then at Burn. "I guess it's Burn's fault that Web's had to steal me from my tribe."

 **"There's no way back into the Sky Kingdom, brainless," she said. "They'll be guarding the hatchery closely now."**

 **"Then I'll get an egg somewhere else," he said grimly.**

Glory's glare switched back to Webs.

 **"The RainWings don't count their eggs - I could take one from the rain forest without anyone noticing."**

And now she glared at her RainWing guards, Orchid, and Mangrove.

"There really wasn't any reason..." Mangrove began, trying to come up with an excuse, and then his voice failed him.

 **"Of all the horrible ideas," Kestrel said with a shudder. "RainWings are wretched creatures. Nothing like SkyWings."**

"SkyWings are grumpy and annoying," Glory commented. "A lot of other dragon tribes are grumpy and annoying, but SkyWings are the most. RainWings, on the other hand, are so much better. A bit more stupid, but much better, so yes, RainWings are not like SkyWings, or any other tribe, for that matter, and that's a good thing."

Kestrel rolled her eyes.

 **"We have to do something," Webs said. He hissed as his tail sent the eggshell skittering across the floor. "In eight years, the Talons of Peace will come looking for five dragonets. The prophecy says five, and we're going to make it come true ... whatever it takes."**

"Done," said Burn, tossing the book aside. It hit her sister Blister in the face, and the SandWing hissed angrily. "I must say," Burn continued, "the first half was _much_ more interesting. Who cares about the Talons of Peace's problems?"

"Go ahead and start reading, Fatespeaker," Starflight said. Thorn took the book from Blister gingerly, afraid the manipulative SandWing might bite, and handed it to the alternate NightWing of destiny.

"Okay," Fatespeaker said. " **Part one. Under The Mountain. Chapter one..."**

* * *

 **Author's Note:** So I found the prologue! Obviously. But anyway, I rearranged the chapters so that the prologue came before chapter one. Hope you enjoy! I also think I found a new ship...Asha and Hvitur!


	3. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** First things first, I do not own Wings of Fire. Secondly, if there are any dragons I missed in the first chapter, let me know and I'll add them. Okay, to the story now...and I apologize for any errors.

* * *

 **"Chapter one,"** read Fatespeaker.

 **Clay didn't think he was the right dragon for a Big Heroic Destiny.**

"Huh, and here we all though you were!" said Glory with a snort.

"Wait, this is from my point of view?" asked Clay in alarm.

"Yes, we'll get to see all your deepest and darkest secrets," said Tsunami.

"I'm blind," Starflight said glumly.

Fatespeaker went on.

 **Oh, he wanted to be. He wanted to be the great MudWing savior of the dragon world, glorious and brave.**

"I take it this was before we escaped the cave," Glory said. "Because now we don't want to be the saviors of the world."

"I don't know," Clay said sheepishly. "Is there a date?"

Fatespeaker checked. "Nope."

"KEEP READING!" Scarlet said imperiously.

Fatespeaker stuck her tongue out at the read dragon. "I will, but only because I want to and not because you told me."

 **He wanted to do all the wonderful things expected of him. He wanted to look at the world, figure out what was broken, and fix it.**

"Ambitious, considering this is coming from Clay and isn't about food," Tsunami teased.

"Hey, I think about things besides food! Just...not that often," Clay defended.

"Is this only from the MudWing's point of view?" asked Blister. "What a bore. I'd be much more interesting."

She was ignored.

 **But he wasn't a natural-hatched hero. He had no legendary qualities at all. He liked sleeping more than studying...**

"Ha," laughed Glory. "That sounds like the Clay we know."

 **...and he kept losing chickens in the caves during hunting practice because he was paying attention to his friends instead of watching for feathers.**

Both Tsunami and Glory gasped dramatically. "Clay not worried about food? What world is this?"

Sunny jumped into defend her MudWing friend. "Of course! Clay's loyal.

Starflight, on the other hand, was thoughtful. "It definitely sounds like we are still in the cave. Kestrel used to make us practice our hunting by releasing prey in the cave. Remember?"

"All too well," the others said.

Several dragons leaned forward, interested in what life was like for the dragon era growing up. Others, like Burn, Blister, and Scarlet, were eager to learn the location of the Talons of Peace hideout.

Kestrel, Dune, and Webs looked less than thrilled about the prospect of reading about their lives under the mountain.

Fatespeaker went on.

 **He was all right at fighting.**

"Not as good as me," Tsunami boasted.

"So not as good as me," Deathbringer added.

"Shut up, Deathbringer," snapped Glory.

 **But "all right" wasn't going to stop the war and save the dragon tribes. He needed to be extraordinary. He was the biggest dragonet, so he was supposed to be the scary, tough one.**

Both Tsunami and Glory erupted into laughter at this. Even Sunny and Starflight looked amused. Deathbringer shook his head. "No, you are not scary." Peril smirked at Clay. Meanwhile, many of the Jade Mountain students were confused. The dragon era seemed so rave and heroic. Were they really normal underneath?

 **The minders wanted him to be terrifyingly dangerous.**

"Yes, that sums you up in two words," Glory agreed with sarcasm.

"How would you sum me up in two words?" asked Deathbringer.

"Brainless annoyance," said Glory with little thought.

"At least she summed me up," Deathbringer said. Glory facetaloned.

 **Clay felt about as dangerous as cauliflower.**

This time many dragons laughed.

"Thinking about food, I see," said Glory.

 **"Fight!" his attacker howled, flinging him across the cavern.**

"You're being attacked!" Several dragons, including Peril, looked at Clay in concern.

The dragonets looked each other knowingly. "Daily training with Kestrel," said Starflight with a shudder.

Sunny sighed almost nostalgically. "I miss it," she said.

Everyone else looked at her like she was crazy.

"I guess I'll get to see what life was like for you," said Thorn. "They'd better have treated you right."

Sunny looked nervous for the sake of her old guardians, but none of the other dragonets looked particularly worried.

 **Clay** **crashed into the rock wall and scrambled up again, trying to spread his mud-colored wings for balance. Red talons raked at his face and he ducked away.**

Many dragons winced in sympathy.

 **"Come on," the red dragon snarled.**

"Stop holding back. Find the killer inside you and let it out!" Glory said waspishly.

 **"Stop holding back. Find the killer inside you and let it out..."** read Fatespeaker.

Glory's scales went green.

Sunny looked amused. "You think like Kestrel."

"No I don't!" the accused dragon protested. "I was merely quoting her!"

Chameleon/Soar looked sad at the mention of his former mate.

 **"I'm trying!" Clay said. "Maybe if we could stop and talk about it —"**

Many dragons facetaloned at this. "That's not how it works," said the disguised Darkstalker.

"Who are you?" asked Arctic suspiciously, but no one answered.

 **She** **lunged for him again. "Feint to the left! Roll right! Use your fire!"**

"Wow, even I can't follow that," Queen Thorn. "Too much at once. I'm not sure if I like this Kestrel dragon."

Kestrel glared. "I was preparing them for their future!"

"Yes, the move she was trying to teach him is actually quite useful," Deathbringer said pompously.

"No one asked you," said Glory.

 **Clay** **tried to duck under her wing to attack her from below, but of course he rolled the wrong way. One of her talons smashed him to the ground, and he yelped with pain.**

"Naturally," said Tsunami drily.

"At least he tried!" Sunny beamed.

"Too much cheerfulness," muttered Winter. Only Moon heard him, and glared.

 **"WHICH LEFT WAS THAT, USELESS?" Kestrel bellowed in his ear.**

"You know, she reminds me of Tsunami when she trains the RainWings," commented Deathbringer.

"HEY!" yelled said SeaWing.

 **"Are all MudWings this stupid? OR ARE YOU JUST DEAF?"**

"HEY!" yelled said offended tribe.

 **Well, if you keep that up, I will be soon, Clay thought. The SkyWing lifted her claws and he wriggled free.**

 **"'I don't know about other MudWings," he protested, licking his sore talons."**

"Ew," said several dragons.

"Were you going to eat your talons? Did they taste good?" asked Auklet with genuine curiosity.

"I WOULD NOT EAT MY TALONS!" shouted Clay.

Auklet looked scared.

"Okay, so maybe Clay can be scary," Tsunami amended.

 **"Obviously. But perhaps we could try fighting without all the shouting and see —" He stopped, hearing the familiar hiss that came before one of Kestrel's fire attacks.**

"A valiant attempt," shuddered Tsunami.

"Why are you scared?" asked Glory.

"Have you been on the receiving end of Kestrel's fire!" Tsunami exclaimed.

"No," Glory said nonchalantly.

Needless to say, the other dragonets were very angry.

"You harmed them?" exclaimed Thorn. She wasn't sure if she should be mad with the three guardians, or the entirety of the Talons of Peace, so she settled for glaring at Kestrel.

"LIKE I SAID, IT WAS TO PREPARE THEM!" Kestrel shouted.

 **He** **threw his wings over his head, tucked his long neck in, and rolled into the maze of stalagmites that studded one corner of the cave. Flames blasted the rocks around him, singeing the tip of his tail.**

Many dragons winced in sympathy Icecle rolled her eyes along with Snowfall, and sneered condescendingly at the grimace on her brother's face.

 **"Coward!" the older dragon bellowed.**

"No he's not!" Sunny defended.

"Yeah," Starflight agreed. "Is say he's being smart.

 **She smashed one of the rock columns into a shower of sharp black pebbles. Clay covered his eyes and almost immediately felt her stamp down hard on his tail.**

More dragons winced in sympathy.

"It was totally cheating when she did that!" Clay whined

 **"OW!" he yelled. "You said stomping tails was cheating!"**

"You don't change much, do you?" asked Riptide.

"Spoken like a true hero," the disguised Darkstalker added.

 **He** **seized the closest stalagmite between his claws and scrabbled up on top of it. From his perch near the roof, he glared down at his guardian.**

 **"I'm your teacher," Kestrel snarled. "Nothing I do is cheating.**

"That seems a bit unfair," Kinkajou frowned.

"Life is unfair," snapped Kestrel. "And you're just a lazy RainWing."

Thorn looked angry. "Why did you assign this dragon the them?"

"Well, you see-" began Nautilus.

"Shh, you'll spoil the book," snapped a voice.

 **Get** **down here and fight like a SkyWing."**

"He's not a SkyWing, though," Scarlet pointed out, looking smug.

 **But** **I'm NOT a SkyWing, Clay thought rebelliously.**

Scarlet looked rather horrified at the thought of agreeing with the MudWing.

Glory smirked at her. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but excellent point, Your Majesty."

 **I'm** **a MudWing! I don't like setting things on fire or flapping around in circles biting at dragon necks. His teeth still ached from Kestrel's jewel-hard scales.**

 **"Can't I fight one of the others?' he asked. "I'm much better at that." The other dragonets were his own size (nearly), and they didn't cheat...**

"*Cough* Tsunami *cough*" said a certain camouflaged dragon.

"At least I actually fought, unlike someone I could mention," said a particular sea dragon

 **...(well, most of the time).**

"COUGH TSUNAMI COUGH!" repeated the RainWing emphatically.

"Are you contagious?" Tsunami asked.

"I never cheated," said Sunny, mildly offended.

 **He** **actually liked fighting with them.**

"...Thanks?" Was the response to this.

 **"'Oh, yes? Which opponent would you prefer, the** **stunted SandWing..."**

"HEY!" said Sunny, uncharacteristically angry.

 **"...or the lazy RainWing?"**

"HEY!" said Glory.

 **"...Kestrel said. "Because I'm sure you'll get to choose out on the battle-field."**

"Sarcasm not appreciated," mumbled Clay.

Kestrel glared. "It was a fair point."

 **"Her tail glowed like embers as she lashed it back and forth."**

"Ooh, pretty," said one of the RainWing guards.

 **"'Glory's not lazy,' Clay said loyally."**

"THANK YOU, Clay," said Glory.

"You might want to hold off on gratitude," said Fatespeaker before reading the next sentence.

 **"'She's just not built for fighting, that's all."**

"HEY!" Glory was angry again. "I can fight if I need to!"

Tsunami shook her head. "Now, maybe, but in the cave you were good at being the stereotypical lazy RainWing."

Fatespeaker quickly continued before Glory could retort.

 **"Webs says there's not much to fight about in the rain forest because the RainWings have all the food they want. He says that's why they've stayed out of the war so far, because none of the rival queens want RainWings in their armies anyway."**

"Ugh, you sound like Starflight," Tsunami complained.

"HEY!" Clay and Starflight both shouted. They turned to look at each other. "How did that offend you?"

"She said I sound like you!" Clay said.

"That's not bad!" Starflight said. Again, Fatespeaker interrupted before this continue.

 **"He says —'**

 **"'STOP YAMMERING AND GET DOWN HERE!' Kestrel roared.**

"For once, I'm thankful for her, because she shut you up," said Tsunami.

Throughout this, Peril was looking a bit sad.

 **She reared up on her back legs and flared her wings so she suddenly looked three times bigger.**

"I hate it when dragons do that," muttered Starflight. "They already look scary without extra height."

 **With a yelp of alarm, Clay tried to leap to the next stalagmite, but his wings unfurled too slowly and he smacked into the side of it instead.**

"Ouch," multiple dragons said.

A lot of the JA students were laughing. Clay was hilarious.

 **Sparks flew as his claws scraped down the jagged rock.**

"Ooh, pretty," said the same RainWing from earlier.

 **He let out another yowl of pain as Kestrel snaked her head between the columns, seized his tail in her teeth, and yanked him out into the open.**

Many winced.

"This is kind of violent," said Coral. "Is it suitable for dragonets?" She indicated her daughters.

"This whole book is pretty violent," said the mysterious voice from before. "Got a problem?"

Coral didn't know what to say.

 **Her talons closed around his neck as she hissed in his ear. "Where's the violent little monster I saw when you hatched?"**

"You were violent?" asked Kinkajou.

"No, it was just his MudWing instincts," said Reed. "It will probably be explained in the book."

 **"That's the dragon we need for the prophecy."**

"Clay was perfect for it no matter what," said Sunny loyally.

 **"Gawp," Clay squawked...**

"Is that a word?" Starflight asked. No one responded.

 **...clawing at her grip. He could feel the strange burn scars on her palms scraping against his scales.**

At the mention of these scars, both Peril and Kestrel froze.

 **This was how battle training with Kestrel always ended — with him unconscious and then sore or limping for days afterward.** _ **Fight**_ _ **back**_ **, he thought.** _ **Get**_ _ **mad**_ **!** _ **Do**_ _ **something**_ **!**

"At least you tried!" Sunny said cheerfully. Clay smiled at her. Peril frowned in jealousy.

 **But although he was the biggest of the dragonets, they were still a year away from being full grown, and Kestrel towered over him.**

 **"He tried to summon some helpful violent rage, but all he could think was,** _ **It'll be over soon, and then I can go have dinner.**_

"And the food thoughts return," remarked Starflight.

"In all honesty, he hasn't had that many," Glory said.

"I told you I just don't think about food," Clay said triumphantly.

 **So, not the most heroic train of thought.**

"Nope," said Tsunami.

"You're still a hero," said Sunny.

Peril glared at her.

 **Suddenly** **Kestrel let out a roar and dropped him.**

"What happened?" asked several dragons in alarm.

 **Fire** **blasted over Clay's head as he hit the floor with a thud.**

The previous question was reasked.

Fatespeaker didn't continue. She yawned widely. "Three moons, I'm exhausted!"

The cavern of dragons glared at her. They all wanted to know what would happen next (even if they wouldn't admit it) and didn't appreciate her abrupt ending.

"Are you going to continue?" Scarlet asked haughtily.

Fatespeaker shrugged. "No. You can read if you'd like."

"Me, read? That's servant work," Scarlet sneered.

Glory rolled her eyes. "Give me this book."

Fatespeaker tossed the book over. Glory turned to the page they were on and continued...

* * *

 **Author's Note 2:** It took me so long to write this, and I'm really sorry that I couldn't write the entire first chapter, especially since I hate it when stories like this end in the middle of a chapter. Unfortunately, the conditions under which this chapter were not ideal, so that is why I ended here and didn't finish. I refuse to stop working on this story, though, so expect an update tomorrow if you like this. Please pardon my errors, and thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 1 Part 2

I do not own Wings of Fire or any of these characters. The bolded words are not my own.

Just so you know, for the past dragons, they are from before the first book, so they don't know anything that's happened. For the present dragons, they are from right before Escaping Peril. Yes, I know this is a little inconsistent as in the first chapter several dragons knew Scarlet died, and also because Qibli, Turtle, Winter, and Moon were all present, but from now on I'll try to keep these timelines consistent. Sorry about that! And if the unmatched timelines bother anyone, let me know and I'll change things.

Enjoy!

* * *

As Fatespeaker flopped down next to am bored-looking Icicle and a worried Sora, Glory cleared her throats and began to continue where the NightWing had left off. Dragons who didn't know the story waited anxiously to see what he caused Kestrel her pain.

 **The red dragon whirled around. Behind her, panting defiantly, was the SeaWing dragonet, Tsunami.**

"Figures," Glory said with an eye roll.

"What do you mean by that?" Tsunami asked in offense.

"I mean, you're the only one stupid enough to attack Kestrel like that," Glory clarified.

"HEY!" Tsunami exclaimed, looking around for someone to back her up. But everyone, even Riptide and Whirlpool, were nodding in agreement. "HUMPH!" she said to announce her discontent.

Glory continued smugly.

 **A red-gold scale was caught between her sharp white teeth.**

"Did you eat it? Did it taste good?" asked Auklet.

Tsunami sighed, not wanting to scare her younger sister. "No, Auklet, I didn't eat it."

"That's too bad," Auklet said. "She probably tastes like cherries because she's red."

"You're weird," Cliff told her.

"Tou probably taste like cherries too," Auklet said.

 **She spat it out and glared at their teacher.**

 **"Stop picking on Clay," Tsunami growled.**

"How come you never defended me?" Glory interrupted herself.

"Are you really asking that?" Tsunami asked.

Glory glared and continued.

 **"Or I'll bite you again."**

"CHERRIES!" Auklet yelped.

"You weird!" came Cliff's reply.

 **Her deep blue scales shimmered like cobalt glass in the torchlight.**

"Ooh, pretty," said the same RainWing.

 **The gills in her long neck were pulsing like they always did when she was angry.**

"Wait, do our gills really pulse when we're angry?" asked Coral.

"You never noticed?" Gill asked.

"I have more important things to worry about," Coral said. She twined her tail around Gill's. "I'm glad you're back."

Tsunami looked momentarily frightened. "Is this the book where I..." she trailed off, too scared to finish the phrase.

Glory didn't tease her. She nodded glumly and read on.

 **Kestrel sat back and flicked her tail around to examine the bite mark. She bared her teeth at Tsunami. "Aren't you sweet. Protecting a dragon who tried to kill you while you were still an egg."**

"Do they have to keep bringing that up?" Clay asked, annoyed.

"Yeah, Kestrel," Tsunami jumped to his defense. "He was trying to-"

"SHH!" Glory interrupted. "Don't spoil anything! But yes, I agree, Kestrel, it's getting old."

Kestrel snorted a spurt of fire. "I was trying to help him unleash his inner monster. I was trying to prepare him for a fight that wouldn't be against me!"

"Blah, blah, blah, we get that, you've stated that a million times," Tsunami said.

"Actually, she's only said that three times," Starflight corrected.

"SHUT UP, STARFLIGHT."

 **"But luckily you big dragons were there to save our lives," Tsunami said...**

"Oh yes, we'd all be dead if it wasn't for you," Glory interrupted herself, shooting the scathing remark at Kestrel and Morrowseer. "And I mean, it's not like you plotted to kill me or anything because I was just a stupid, lazy RainWing! But look where I ended up, so I guess I should be grateful."

Tsunami said, "You just yelled at me about spoiling the book, but I guess whatever the queen wants to do is totally okay. Let's not forget I'm a princess."

Several dragons rolled their eyes, while others from the past looked confused.

"SO MUCH FOR NOT SPOILING THE BOOK, TSUNAMI!" Glory shouted.

"READ!" Scarlet ordered.

"You better watch yourself, now!" Glory snapped back.

Scarlet sneered. "Why should I be scared of a RainWing? What are you going to do? Change colors?"

The dragonets, excluding Sunny, started to laugh. "If only you knew..." Peril muttered, unsure whether or not she felt bad for her queen or not.

"Kestrel sure liked repeating things," Tsunami said.

 **"...and we sure appreciate it, because now we get to hear about it all the time."**

"Kestrel liked repeating things, that's for sure," Tsunami said again.

"You also appear to like repeating things," Riptide said drily. "Go on, Glory."

 **She marched around to stand between Clay and Kestrel.**

 **Clay winced. He hated hearing this story. He didn't understand it. He'd never want to hurt the other dragonets.**

"That's true," said Starflight. "The only time I've seen him hurt someone purposefully was in the arena..."

"STOP SPOILING THE BOOK FOR THE DRAGONS WHO HAVEN'T READ IT YET!" Glory yelled.

Several dragons winced.

 **So why had he attacked their eggs during hatching? Did he really have a killer monster inside him somewhere?**

"Of course not!" Sunny said with a warm smile. "You were just-"

Glory facetaloned. "Three moons, why does nobody ever listen to me?"

Banana the RainWing spoke up. "Actually, Your Majesty, we listen a lot."

Glory ignored her, which seemed a bit hypocritical, but no one said anything.

 **The other minders, Webs and Dune, said he'd been ferocious when he hatched. They'd had to throw him in the river to protect the other eggs from him.**

Some of the Jade Mountain students looked at him incredulously. They all saw him as a hero, in some cases, maybe even an idol, but it was very difficult to picture Clay as a fighter.

"You threw him into a river!" Thorn gasped, sounding extremely offended.

Webs jumped in this time. "How were we supposed to know that he wasn't actually trying to kill them? None of us know how MudWing-"

"STOP SPOILING THE BOOK!" Glory yelled, throwing said book at Webs both because he'd nearly done the terrible deed and also because she really didn't like him. "I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE! WHAT'S THE POINT OF READING THE BOOK IF WE COULD JUST SIT HERE AND TELL EVERYONE WHAT HAPPENED?"

Deathbringer looked uncharacteristically alarmed. "Now, now, Glory, calm yourself."

Glory stomped out of the cave. Deathbringer quickly followed.

"I guess I'll read," Sunny volunteered with a forced smile on her snout.

 **Kestrel wanted him to find that monster and use it when he fought.**

 **But he was afraid if he ever did, he would hate himself, and so would everyone else.**

"Aw, no one could hate you!" Sunny said.

"Agreed," Peril nodded, and then looked at her talons when the other three dragonets looked at her suspiciously.

 **Thinking about what he'd nearly done to his friends made him feel like all the fire had been sucked out of him.**

"What would that feel like?" Mastermind mused.

"I don't know, why don't I SUCK THE FIRE OUT OF YOU?" suggested an angry Mangrove. Some of the past dragons looked at him in alarm, as they had never seen an angry RainWing. In some cases, they had never seen a RainWing at all.

 **He didn't particularly want to be a violent angry monster, even if Kestrel thought that would be an improvement.**

"Who cares what Kestrel thinks?" asked Tsunami.

 **But maybe that was the only way to make the prophecy come true. Maybe that monster was his destiny.**

"NO!" shouted several dragons.

"You are not a monster," added Sunny as an afterthought.

"I know," Clay said.

 **"All right," Kestrel said dismissively. "We're finished here anyway. I'll mark another failure in your scroll, MudWing."**

"Hey, that's mean," Kinkajou said.

"That's Kestrel for you," Clay said with a shrug. "At least my failure didn't interfere with dinner time."

His friends rolled their eyes.

"I don't like Kestrel," Thorn announced in case anyone doubted this fact.

 **She snorted a small flame into the air and swept out of the cave.**

"Ooh, majestic," said Blaze. "I'll have to remember that exit. So dramatic!"

 **Clay flopped down on the floor as soon as her red tail had vanished from sight. It felt like every one of his scales was stinging from the burns. "She's going to be so mean to you during your training tomorrow," he said to Tsunami.**

"I've never seen Kestrel be mean before!" Tsunami gasped dramatically. "That'll be so unexpected and out of character!"

Sunny smiled as she read the next sentence.

 **"Oh, no," the SeaWing dragonet gasped. "I've never seen Kestrel be mean before! That'll be so unexpected and out of character!"**

"That was very in character," Starflight commented.

 **"Ow," Clay groaned. "Don't make me laugh. I think my ribs are broken."**

"So overdramatic," Scarlet shook her head disapprovingly. "This book is so boring. I can think of a hundred other things that would be much more THRILLING than sitting here reading this absolutely UNTHRILLING story. And about three-quarters of the dragon in this cave should be THRILLINGLY dead, but life is so unfair to me and decided to spare them. Oh well, at least I can fantasize about THRILLING ways to murder them all..."

"And I'm overdramatic?" huffed Tsunami.

 **"Your ribs are not broken," Tsunami said, poking him in the side with her nose. "Dragon bones are almost as hard as diamonds.**

"Someone's been hanging around Starflight..." Fatespeaker said. She had finally awoken from her brief nap and had hopped back up onto her feet. "Did you know..."

Before she could start to tell everyone something that would certainly be thrillingly fascinating, Sunny went on.

 **You're fine. Get up and jump in the river."**

"Oh, I forgot about my jump in the river phase," Tsunami said.

"Thank the moons, or you might've started up again," Starflight sighed.

"Are you still upset about that time I pushed you into the river?" Tsunami shook her head. "That was so long ago! And you totally deserved it. And besides, it wasn't that bad."

"YOU RUINED MY FAVORITE SCROLLS!" Starflight said mournfully.

"All of your scrolls are your favorite," Tsunami snorted. "And besides, you have, like, everything you read memorized by heart! I'm sure you could've rewritten them."

 **"No!" Clay buried his head under his wing. "Too cold!"**

 **"Jump in the river" was Tsunami's solution for everything. Bored? Aching bones? Dry scales? Brain overstuffed with the history of the war? "Jump in the river!" she'd shout whenever any of the other dragonets complained.**

"I think jumping in the river is only a solution for SeaWings," said Riptide. "We're the only ones who can breathe underwater, and most other dragon tribes hate getting wet."

 **She certainly did not care that she was the only one who could breathe underwater or that most other dragon tribes hated getting wet.  
**

"That was almost word for word," Kinkajou smirked at Tsunami and Riptide. "Maybe you two are made for each other after all!"

"I didn't say that," Tsunami said. "That was Clay."

Qibli turned to Clay and Riptide with an amused expression on his snout. "So, you two," he asked, smirking. "Claytide's a thing? Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because it's not a thing!" Clay said, flustered.

"Mmhmm, sure," Qibli said, gesturing for Sunny to continue with the book.

 **Clay didn't mind being wet, but he couldn't stand being cold, and the underground river that flowed through their cave home was always freezing.  
**

"So cold," shuddered Clay in agreement.

"My poor scrolls..."

 **"Get in," Tsunami ordered. She seized his tail between her front talons and started dragging him toward the river. "You'll feel better."**

"I will not!" Clay protested.

 **"I will not!" Clay shouted, clawing at the smooth stone floor.**

"Still not feeling better?" Peril asked in sympathy.

 **"I'll feel colder! Stop it! Go away! Argh!" His protests went up in a cloud of bubbles as Tsunami dumped him in the icy water.  
**

"Ugh, I hate it when Tsunami does that," one of the RainWings shuddered.

"It's good training," said SeaWing defended.

"My poor scrolls..."

 **When he resurfaced, she was floating beside him, ducking her head and splashing water over her scales like a beautiful overgrown fish.**

"Sort of pretty," said the pretty-obsessed RainWing.

"I think that's a compliment," Starflight said.

"It better be," Tsunami bared her teeth menacingly.

 **Clay felt like a gawky brown blob next to her.  
**

"That's because you are a gawky brown blob," Peril said, nudging him affectionately. Her nudge was more of a shove and he went flying off the stage.

"Oops, sorry," she said, ducking her head in embarrassment. She saw Sunny help Clay back onto the assembly stage and cursed herself for not doing the same.

 **He sploshed...**

"Is that a word?" asked Fatespeaker. No one replied.

 **...into the shallows and lay down on a submerged rock ledge, with his head resting on the bank of the river. He wouldn't admit it, but the burns and aches did feel better in the water.**

"Ha! Jumping in the river is a solution to everything!" Tsunami yelled.

 **The current helped wash away the smoky rock dust caught between his dry scales.  
**

"I hated dry scales," Blaze declared.

"I hate you," her sister Blister shot back.

"Now, girls," Oasis began to lecture the two of them on sisterhood.

 **"Kestrel will be sorry one day, when I'm queen of the SeaWings," Tsunami said, swimming up and down the narrow channel.  
**

"How did you know?" Coral asked.

Glory and Deathbringer came back. Glory heard. "YOU'RE SPOILING EVERYTHING AGAIN!"

Starflight raised one of his talons wisely. "You know, by saying that dragons are spoiling things, you're kind of spoiling that they're spoiling something..."

Glory ignored him.

 **"I thought only a queen's daughters or sisters could challenge her for her throne," Clay said. Tsunami swam so fast. He wished he had webs between his talons, too, or gills, or a tail like hers, so powerful she could nearly empty the river with one big splash.**

"I'm just awesome," Tsunami said, flashing her luminescent scales.

Glory snorted in disbelief, along with Deathbringer.

"Not as awesome as me," said the NightWing.

 **"Well, maybe the SeaWing queen is my mother and I'm a lost princess," she said.**

"Are we sure Tsunami can't see the future?" asked Riptide.

"YOU'RE SPOILING THE STORY!" Glory shrieked.

"YOU'RE SPOILING THE STORY!" came Kinkajou's animated reply. "Sorry, Your Majesty, but I wanted to yell that..."

 **"Like in the story."  
**

 **Everything the dragonets knew about the outside world came from scrolls picked up by the Talons of Peace. Their favorite was The Missing Princess, a legend about a runaway SeaWing dragonet whose royal family tore up the whole ocean looking for her. At the end she found her way home, and her parents welcomed her with open wings and feasting and joy.**

"One of my better stories," Coral said with a loving smile on her face. "Of course, everything I write is fantastic, but that was one of the best. I'm glad you grew up reading that." She looked to Tsunami.

 **Clay always skipped the adventures in the middle of the story.**

"It's too bad we couldn't just skip to the end of our story," said Peril.

"Nah, I kind of liked all the adventures in between," Tsunami said, both because she really had sort of enjoyed the experiences she'd had and also just to disagree with Peril.

 **He just liked that last part — the happy mother and father. And the feasting. The feasting sounded pretty great, too.**

"Food," Clay moaned. His stomach growled.

 **"I wonder what my parents are like," he said.**

At this, Clay got a sad look on his face. "Not as amazing as I thought..."

His siblings shot angry looks at their mother Cattail, who didn't know why she was suddenly receiving death glares and honestly could care less. She hadn't realized that Clay was the egg who'd gone missing from her clutch six years ago.

 **"I wonder if any of our parents are still alive," Tsunami said.**

"Are they?" asked a curious Jade Mountain student.

"Well, my mother is still alive," said Clay glumly. "I don't know about my father. My mother wasn't excited to see me. But I've got-"

"Don't say it," Glory warned.

"Fine," Clay snapped.

Tsunami spoke up next. "My mother is still alive, but my father...um, he dies in one of the books..." she trailed off.

Glory shrugged, trying to sound indifferent as she spoke. "RainWings don't do families. Or at least, they didn't. All I know is that I have a grandmother or a great-grandmother or something like that. Speaking of which, we forgot to bring Grandeur along. Banana and Bromeliad, can you hurry back to the rainforest and get her? She might want to hear this."

The two RainWings hastened to do as they were told.

Next Starflight spoke. "My father's alive, but unfortunately he turned out not to be such a great dragon..."

Mastermind looked sad. He knew what he'd done was wrong, and he knew he deserved to be punished for it, but he wished Starflight would forgive him. Starflight was all he had left, and having his son angry at him was worse than any punishment Glory could come up for him.

Sunny spoke last. "Both my parents are still alive. As most of you know, Thorn is my mother."

"How THRILLING," Scarlet said. "Keep reading."

 **Clay didn't like to think about that. He knew dragons were dying in the war every day —**

There was a brief silence to remember all the lives that had been lost in the war that had raged for so long.

It was broken by Blister, who yawned loudly and quite rudely. "Oh my, all this emotion is really boring me."

Scarlet and Burn nodded in agreement, and then looked horrified when they realized they were agreeing with one of their enemies.

 **Kestrel and Webs brought back news of bloody battles, scorched land, and burning piles of dragon bodies. But he had to believe his parents were still safe. "Do you think they ever miss us?"**

"All the time," Thorn whispered to herself. Stonemover heard her. He wanted to comfort her, but didn't know what to do.

 **"Definitely." Tsunami flicked a spray of water at him with her tail. "I bet mine were frantic when Webs stole my egg. Just like in the story."  
**

Coral looked down. "Unfortunately, I wasn't."

 **"And mine tore apart the marshes," Clay said.**

His siblings and his friends looked at him with sadness, upset that his parent cared so little for him. Cattail again grew confused at the glares sent her way.

 **They'd all imagined scenes of their parents' desperate searches ever since they were young dragonets. Clay liked the idea that someone out there was looking for him . . . that someone missed him and wanted him back.  
**

More sad looks.

 **Tsunami flipped onto her back, gazing up at the stone roof with her translucent green eyes. "Well, the Talons of Peace knew what they were doing," she said bitterly. "No one would ever find us down here."**

"Yes, it's one of the few things that Talons ever kept from us, the location of the oh so great dragonets of destiny," Burn said with anger and loathing.

"Where is this THRILLING cave that you speak of anyway?" hissed Scarlet.

"That's for us to know, and you to find out," said Glory promptly.

 **They listened to the river gurgle and the torches crackle for a moment.  
**

 **"We won't be underground forever," Clay said, trying to make her feel better. "I mean, if the Talons of Peace want us to stop this war, they have to let us out sometime." He scratched behind his ear thoughtfully. "Starflight says it's only two more years." He only had to hold on that long. "And then we can go home and eat as many cows as we want."  
**

"Yeah, that sounds great," Ochre sighed.

"But you skipped the whole saving the world thing," Umber added. "But cows do sound good. I'm so hungry!"

 **"Well, first we save the world," Tsunami said. "And then we go home."  
**

 **"Right," said Clay. How they were going to save the world was a little fuzzy, but everyone seemed to think they'd figure it out when the time came.  
**

Webs scratched his gills. "Yeah, we didn't really prepare them for that."

Kestrel and Dune glared. "Yes, we did."

 **Clay pulled himself out of the river, his waterlogged wings heavy and drooping. He spread them in front of one of the torches, arching his neck and trying to get warm. Feeble waves of heat wafted against his scales.  
**

 **"Unless . . ." Tsunami said.  
**

"Unless what?" asked several dragons.

"MAYBE IF YOU LET SUNNY READ AND STOP INTERRUPTING, YOU'D FIND OUT," Glory said, still highly annoyed with the world.

 **Clay lowered his head to look at her. "Unless what?"**

 **"Unless we leave sooner," she said. She flipped over and pulled herself out of the water in one graceful motion.**

"You know, I never really thought of myself as graceful," said Tsunami.

"Just accept the compliment and continue," Glory said.

 **"Leave?" Clay echoed, startled. "How? On our own?"**

"No, we'll ask our guardians _super_ nicely, and because they're so compassionate and understanding, they'll let us out of the cave that they've basically been holding us hostage in for our entire lives," said Tsunami with sarcasm.

 **"Why not?" she said. "If we can find a way out — why should we have to wait another two years? I'm ready to save the world now, aren't you?"  
**

 **Clay wasn't sure he'd ever be ready to save the world. He figured the Talons of Peace would tell them what they had to do. Only the three guardian dragons — Kestrel, Webs, and Dune — knew where the dragonets were hidden, but there was a whole network of Talons out there getting ready for the prophecy.  
**

 **"We can't stop the war by ourselves," he said. "We wouldn't know where to start."  
**

"I'm not exactly sure if we ever figured out where to start," Starflight said.

Sunny nodded in agreement. "It's more like the start crept up on us."

 **Tsunami flapped her wings at him in exasperation, showering him with cold droplets. "We can too stop the war on our own," she said. "That's the whole point of the prophecy."  
**

 **"Maybe in two years," Clay said. _Maybe by then I'll have found my dangerous side. Maybe then I'll be the ferocious fighter Kestrel wants me to be._**

"You have failed in this task," Starflight commented.

"But I have a BATTLE WOUND!" Clay said, proudly displaying his scar.

"Yes, and we're all very proud," Glory rolled her eyes, while many of the Jade Mountain dragonets went 'ooh' at the sight of the scar and stared at Clay with admiration in their eyes.

 **"Maybe sooner," she said stubbornly. "Just think about it, all right?"  
**

 **He shifted his feet. "All right. I'll think about it." At least that way he could stop arguing with her.  
**

 **Tsunami cocked her head. "I hear dinner!"**

"The fact that you noticed that before Clay is beyond me," said Starflight. "Clay is always the first one to hear dinner, or any kind of meal, actually."

 **The faint sound of dismayed mooing...**

Several dragons laughed at this.

"Dismayed...mooing..." Qibli puffed between laughs.

Kinkajou and Moon both frowned. "Poor cow..."

 **...echoed up the tunnel behind them.**

"Moooooooooooooooooooo," went the disguised Darkstalker. "You know, mooing is kind of a scary noise..."

 **She poked Clay cheerfully. "Race you to the hall!" She whirled and pounded away without waiting for a response.  
**

"Under normal circumstances, you probably would've lost," said Sunny, interrupting herself. "Nothing gets in the way of Clay and his food."

 **The torches in the battle room seemed dimmer, and cold water was seeping under Clay's scales. He folded his wings and swept his tail through the debris of the smashed rock column.**

 **Tsunami was crazy.**

"HEY!" Tsunami said in outrage.

"Oh, boy, we knew that a long time ago," Riptide said.

"HEY!" Tsunami said again.

Queen Coral hefted a sigh. "I don't know how to break this to you, dear, but you are definitely not as sane as a normal dragon..."

Tsunami could not accept this.

 **The five dragonets weren't ready to stop the war.**

"Were we ever?" the five dragonets laughed.

 **They wouldn't even know how to survive on their own.**

"We proved you wrong, Clay!" the other four said.

 **Maybe Tsunami was brave and tough like a hero should be, but Sunny and Glory and Starflight . . .**

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," the three mentioned dragons said.

 **Clay thought of all the things that might hurt them and wished he could give them his own scales and claws and teeth for extra protection.  
**

"That's...sweet," Glory hesitated.

"Aw, I'd give you my scales and claws and teeth for extra protection too!" Sunny said. Peril glared at her.

"My scales would be more helpful," she snapped.

"Yeah, but if he had your scales nobody could hug him," Tsunami retorted.

 **Besides, there was no way to escape the caves. The Talons of Peace had made sure of that.**

 **Still, part of him couldn't help wondering what it would be like to go home now instead of waiting another two years. Back to the marshes, to the swamps, to a whole tribe of MudWings who looked like him and thought like him . . . back to his parents, whoever they were . . .**

Cue more glares at Cattail.

 **What if they could do it?  
**

"YES!" shouted Tsunami and Glory. "Get out of that cave!"

"I'm not sure if I want them to leave or not," Thorn said. "If they leave, no more nasty Kestrel. If they stay, then no danger from the outside world."

"LEAVE!"

 **What if the dragonets could escape, and survive, and save the world . . . their own way?  
**

"WE CAN DO IT!" the two female dragonets yelled.

"We already did it," Starflight said.

"And we can do it again!" Tsunami said.

"I wouldn't want to do it again," Glory said at the same time.

"That's the end of the first chapter," Sunny announced. "That was long, but really exciting! Who wants to read next?"

Thorn volunteered. "I guess I will..."

She was handed to book. She opened to the page and began. " **Chapter Two...** "

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Chapter one is done! That took soooooooooooo long...hope you guys enjoy! See ya next time!


	5. Chapter 2 Part 1

**Chapter Two**

 **Clay swept the bones of dinner into the river with his tail. The stripped white shapes bounced away in the current.**

 **Fires flickered around the edges of the great central cave. Echoing space yawned overhead, dripping with stalactites, like huge teeth. The cave dome was big enough for six full-grown dragons to fit across with their wings extended. The underground river flowed along one wall, muttering and gurgling as if it were plotting its own escape.**

"You are very good at describing things," Sora commented.

"That is totally foreshadowing!" Starflight declared. "The river plotting its own escape? It's totally saying that we're going to-"

"DON'T SPOIL ANYTHING!" As expected, that was Glory.

 **Clay glanced at the two small sleeping caves that opened onto** **the hall - currently empty - and wondered where the other dragonets had gone while he was cleaning up.**

"Let me guess," Tsunami said. "Starflight was studying, Glory was on her ledge in the study cave, and I was probably waiting for Clay to hurry up so that we could start studying our history lesson."

"What about Sunny?" asked Clay.

Tsunami shrugged. "I never knew where she went after dinner."

 **"AHA!" yelled a voice behind him.**

"What did you do?" asked Starflight in worry.

"I bet that Sunny yelled 'aha,' said Riptide.

"Ha, as if Sunny could be intimidating," Tsunami scoffed.

"Yelling 'aha' is intimidating?"

Tsunami shrugged. "I bet it's Glory with her invisible scales."

 **Clay threw his wings over his head.**

"Scaredy cat," Glory teased.

"Do dragons say that?" asked Starflight.

"Now they do," Glory decided.

 **"What'd I do?" he yelped. "I'm sorry! It was an accident! Or if it's the extra cow, Dune said I could have it because Webs would be out late but I'm sorry and I can skip dinner tomorrow!"**

"Clay willing to sacrifice his dinner?" Tsunami yelped. "What has this world come to?"

Peril started laughing.

 **A small snout poked his back between his wings. "Calm down, silly," Sunny said.**

"HA! I told you so!" Riptide declared triumphantly, poking Tsunami's wings to prove a point.

The SeaWing dragonet pulled her wings close around her. "I don't care." She clearly did.

 **"I wasn't aha-ing at you."**

 **"Oh." Clay smoothed his crest and twisted to look at her, the smallest and last-hatched of the dragonets.**

"AND THE BEST!" Sunny cheered in a very un-Sunny-like manner.

 **A pale lizard tail was disappearing into her mouth.**

Some SandWings licked their lips appreciatively at the mention of the lizard, along with Ochre, while other dragons just looked at each other illy.

"No." Winter shore his head. "Never, ever eat a reptile."

Peril was still laughing.

 **She grinned at him.**

"Chew with your mouth closed!" Thorn commanded.

"You know, you're talking to a book," her daughter said.

 **"That was my fierce hunting cry," she said.**

"Totally fierce," Smolder commented.

Sunny elbowed him in the ribs.

 **"Did you like it? Wasn't it scary?"**

"Clay sure thought so," Peril hiccuped, recovering from her laughter.

"Totally loved it," Clay said, closing his eyes and still looking extremely embarrassed.

 **"Well, it certainly was surprising," he said.**

"Sure, not terrifying," Sunny said. "I can be terrifying if I want to! I just choose not to be. Is something wrong with that?"

She was hastily assured that nothing was wrong.

 **"Lizards again? What's wrong with cows?"**

"Just because you like cows doesn't mean everybody does," Tsunami said.

"Blech," Sunny said at the same time. "Too heavy."

 **"Blech. Too heavy," she said.**

Several dragons looked amused.

 **"You look all serious."**

 **"Just thinking."**

"About food?" asked Peril.

"No!" Clay protested. "I don't just think about food."

"Clay doesn't think," Tsunami teased fondly.

"For the hundredth time, I DO THINK, AND NOT JUST ABOUT FOOD!"

 **He was glad Kestrel and Dune couldn't read minds like NightWing dragons.**

There were several glares and hisses at this mention. Moon shifted uncomfortably and several of the past dragons looked confused at the hostile attitude towards the statement.

 **He hadn't been able to stop thinking about escape all through dinner.**

"See?" Clay said, waving his talons about emphatically. "Thinking not about food!"

"We're so proud of you," Glory said sardonically.

 **Clay lifted one of his wings, and Sunny nestled close to him.**

Peril glared at Sunny.

 **He could feel the warmth from her golden scales radiating along his side.**

"I'm a lot warmer than Sunny," Peril sniffed haughtily. She held up her wing, radiating heat towards Clay. He wrapped a wing around her, and she smiled, and then glared when he also wrapped a wing around Sunny.

 **Sunny was too small and the wrong color -**

"Thanks," Sunny scowled. Now Clay had two females glaring at him.

 **...tawny gold instead of sand pale like most SandWings - but she gave off heat like the rest of her tribe.**

"Well, we know why I was so odd now," Sunny said, earning a few confused or puzzled looks.

 **"Dune says we should go study for an hour before bed," she said. "The others are in the study cave already."**

"Told you," Tsunami said, poking Riptide.

"But we don't know where in the study cave," he protested.

 **Dune, the maimed dragon who taught them survival skills...**

At the mention of the dragon, Thorn glared harshly. "You didn't deserve to watch my dragonet grow up," she muttered under her breath.

One of the Jade Mountain students sitting near her shifted away uncomfortably. The other dragons didn't understand why Thorn had stopped reading.

 **...was a SandWing, and so was Sunny ... more or less.**

"Hey!" Sunny said. "I'm still a SandWing, even if I'm half-"

"DON'T SPOIL THE BOOK!" Glory snapped.

"What's up with Sunny?" asked Hvitur from the past.

River Song held a finger to her lips. "Spoilers." ( **A/N:** Sorry, Doctor Who reference there...couldn't resist!)

 **There was something not quite right about the littlest dragonet.**

"Thanks a lot, Clay." Sunny was getting angrier and angrier. She pushed Clay's wing off of her, earning a delighted look from Peril. It was quite surprising. Nobody had ever seen her this worked up about something before.

 **Not only were her scales too golden, but her eyes were gray-green instead of glittering black. Worst of all...**

"WORST OF ALL?" Sunny screeched. Clay now backed away from her, startled by her out of character behavior.

 **...her tail curled into an ordinary point like the tails of most dragon tribes, instead of ending with the poisonous barb that was a SandWing's most dangerous weapon.**

"And for that we're grateful," Starflight wisely told Sunny.

She relaxed, and gave Starflight a smile. Now Fatespeaker was glaring at the SandWing.

 **As Kestrel often said, Sunny was completely harmless ... and what good was a harmless dragon? But her egg fit the instructions in the prophecy, so she was their "wings of sand," whether the Talons of Peace liked it or not.**

"You can't decide a prophecy," Asha said loyally. "It's destiny."

There were several snorts, but a lot of the present dragons liked Asha.

"Destiny, shmestiny," Scarlet said scathingly.

"Scarlet, shmarlet," Peril retorted, not caring if she didn't really make sense.

 **Of course, there were no "wings of rain" in the prophecy at all.**

Now Glory was glaring at Clay.

"Why is everyone glaring at me?" Clay yelped. "The book is saying all this stuff, not me!"

"Yeah, but it's from your point of view," Glory said.

 **The dragonets had all heard - many times over - about how Glory was a last minute substituted for the broken SkyWing egg. Kestrel and Dune called her a mistake and growled at her a lot.**

Now Glory was glaring at Kestrel and Dune.

"What can we say?" Kestrel snorted a plume of fire. "You were a mistake."

Dune growled at her. Both Glory and Thorn growled back.

 **Nobody knew whether the prophecy could still happen with a RainWing instead of a SkyWing.**

"Destiny!" Asha trilled. Now several dragons were getting kind of a annoyed at her.

 **But from what Clay knew of SkyWings, he was very glad they had Glory instead of another grumpy, fire-breath Kestrel under the mountain.**

"Thanks, Clay." Glory said, her glare softening for a moment. "BUT I STILL DON'T APPRECIATE YOUR PREVIOUS COMMENTS ABOUT ME."

 **Besides, if anyone was likely to mess up the prophecy, it was him, not Glory or Sunny.**

"That's not true!" Sunny protested. "You did great in the prophecy!"

"But this is before it happened," Clay said.

 **"Come on," Sunny said, flicking him with her tail. He followed her across the central cave.**

 **Twisting stone tunnels led off in four directions: one to the battle area, one to the guardians' cave, one to the study room, and one to the outside world. The last was blocked with a boulder too big for any of the dragonets to move.**

"Ugh, stupid boulder," Tsunami grumbled.

"You just didn't like it because you weren't strong enough to move it," Glory said.

"That, and it stopped us from leaving the cave," Tsunami added.

"So they were basically prisoners?" Thorn asked the three guardians.

"No," Webs said.

"Kind of," was Dune's reply. He refused to meet Thorn's eyes.

"Yes," Kestrel said, "in a loose sense of the word."

Thorn looked angry, but she continued reading in hope that her anger would subside.

 **Clay stopped and pushed against the rock with his shoulder as they went by.**

"And Kestrel didn't catch you?" Tsunami asked in disbelief.

"She never caught me when I tried," Clay replied, confused by her shock. "Why would she?"

"Whenever, I tried to move the rock, even when I was positive she wasn't around, she always magically appeared and yelled at me about discipline and a bunch of other boring stuff!" Tsunami explained angrily. "That's so not fair!"

Kestrel smirked.

 **He often tried to open it when the big dragons weren't around.**

"So did I!" Tsunami yelled, still angry. "They caught me anyway!"

"You just aren't stealthy," Glory smirked.

 **Someday it would move when he did that.**

"Never ended up happening, though," Clay said. "I should go back to the cave and try moving it."

"We are never going back there." Both Glory and Tsunami adamantly shook their head.

"Maybe it will move now," Clay spoke hopefully.

 **Maybe not a lot, but even a tiny shift would let him know he was finally getting close to full grown.**

"You still aren't full grown," Thorn commented, interrupting herself.

"But I'm scary," Clay declared. "RAWRGH! See?"

Glory and Tsunami rolled their eyes, while Peril and Sunny both laughed.

 **He _felt_ big. He was constantly bumping into things and accidentally knocking stuff over with his tail or his wings.**

"You weren't big, you were just clumsy," Tsunami snorted.

"I was not clumsy!" Clay protested.

"Um, you almost sat on me several times," Glory said.

"And you knocked over all my scrolls!" Starflight lamented. "I'd taken so long to stack them all alphabetically and by date and author, and then you came along with your giant tail and knocked all my hard work aside!"

His friends looked at each other in exasperation.

"I could still see then," Starflight said, his voice a little sad.

Now his friends looked at each other sadly. The past dragons looked around, wondering what had happened to the dragonets. Even Scarlet, Blister, Burn, and Oasis were interested, even though they would never admit it.

 _ **Not today,**_ **he thought ruefully when the boulder didn't budge. _Maybe tomorrow._**

 **He followed Sunny down the tunnel to the study room. His enormous feet and thick claws thumped and scraped against the stone floor. Even though he'd lived under the mountain his whole life, it still hurt to walk on bare rock. He was constantly stubbing his talons, and they always ached by the end of the day.**

"That is why dragons don't typically live in caves," Starflight said.

"I'm thirsty," Thorn announced.

"Good for you," Smolder said.

Thorn frowned at him. "Either get me some water pronto, or someone else reads."

"Okay." Smolder held out his talons.

"What?"

"I'll read."

Thorn sighed, but handed him the book. _This is going to be interesting._ She thought.

Smolder continued where Thorn had left off...

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Again, I apologize for splitting the chapters in two. Unfortunately, I don't own the Dragonet Prophecy and the source I was using to get the chapters stopped at the end of chapter two. So, in order to keep providing some new material, I decide to again split the chapter into two parts. I'm super sorry, but that's just how it's going to have to be until I can find the rest of the book...I placed a hold on it at the library.

I'll try to update this as much as possible, but it takes a really long time to copy down the entire book (copy and paste doesn't work) and then go through and add commentary. I'm doing this as fast as I can. Thanks for the reviews though. I really appreciate them, and everyone who reads this. Thank you guys!


	6. Chapter 2 Part 2

Smolder cleared his throat, and continued where Thorn had left off, speaking in a deep and dramatic voice.

 **Tsunami was strutting...**

"Hmm, makes you sound like a chicken," Glory mused.

"What? I AM NOT A CHICKEN!" Tsunami shouted.

"Sorry, but chickens do strut," Riptide added, and then flinched as if he expected to be injured.

 **...around the study cave barking...**

"And now you sound like a dog," Glory continued.

"I AM NOT A DOG EITHER," Tsunami declared loudly.

"But you were barking," began Riptide. He didn't brace himself this time, and Tsunami took this opportunity to hit him.

 **...orders.**

"Figures you'd be the one bossing us around," Clay said. "No offense or anything."

 **Sunny and Clay sat down by the entrance, folding their wings back. A breath of air drifted down from the whole in the roof, far overhead - the only window to the outside in any of the caves. At night, without the distant hint of sunlight, the room felt colder and more hollow. Clay stretched up and sniffed at the darkness that had fallen on the other side of the whole. He thought it smelled like stars.**

Starflight opened his mouth, likely to say that stars didn't smell like anything, but Fatespeaker quickly hushed him.

"I remember that opening in the roof," Tsunami mused to herself. "We made a plan to build up a pile of rocks and then climb out through that, but then the plan got ruined." She sent a not-so-subtle glare at Sunny.

"Sorry, but we still got out anyway in the end," said the SandWing-NightWing nonchalantly.

 **A map of Pyrrhia hung on the wall between the torches. Tsunami and Starflight loved staring at the map, trying to figure to where their hidden cave was. Starflight was pretty sure they were somewhere under the Claws of Clouds Mountains. SkyWings preferred to live high among the peaks, so anything could happen in the deep caves below without being noticed.**

"Are you saying that the dragonets of destiny have been right under my nose the entire time?" Scarlet said, both angered and delighted to see how near they were to her. "How THRILLING."

"You get your claws on us anyway in the near future," Tsunami snapped.

"Stop spoiling things!" Glory yelped, although she was a bit less adamant.

 **"All this history is so confusing," Sunny murmured to Clay, swishing her tail back and forth. "Why don't the three sides just sit down and talk out an end to the war?"**

"Ah, Sunny," Tsunami sighed fondly.

"I wish it worked out that way," Starflight said. "Then there wouldn't have been need for the pointless war."

"It wasn't pointless!" the SandWing sisters protested, but everyone was agreeing with Starflight.

Sunny nodded too. "Sometimes words are better than war."

"That was deep," Starflight commented.

 **"That would be great," Clay said. "Then we could stop studying it."**

"Mm, somehow I think we'd still have to learn about it," Starflight objected.

 **Sunny giggled.**

Peril glared again at Sunny.

 **"Stop that," Tsunami said bossily, stamping her feet at them. "No whispering! Pay attention.**

"Bossy..." Glory whispered to Deathbringer.

"I HEARD THAT," Tsunami snapped. "BE QUIET. PAY ATTENTION. NO WHISPERING. LISTEN UP."

"I think you just proved my point..."

 **I'm assigning parts."**

Some dragons looked confused at this.

 **"This is not proper studying," Starflight pointed out. His black NightWing scales made him nearly invisible in the dark shadows between the torches.**

"Ooh, dramatic," whispered Fatespeaker.

 **He swept a few scrolls between his talons and began to neatly sort them into stacked triangles.**

A few of the black dragonet's friends snorted.

 **"Perhaps I should read to everyone instead."**

"Please, no, anything but that," Glory said. "Maybe you could do that later, when we're actually _trying_ to fall asleep."

Smolder started coughing as he choked back his laughter and read the next line.

 **"Dear moons, anything but that," Glory said from the ledge above him. "Maybe later, when we're** ** _trying_** **to fall asleep."**

"I take offense!" Starflight cried. "I'm not that boring when I read!"

Fatespeaker sighed, and took his talons in hers. "I hate to break it to you, Starflight, but even I have difficulty listening to you read..."

Starflight looked extremely dismayed at this.

"Him being unable to read is actually one of the few bonuses of his blindness," Tsunami commented without thinking. Starflight cried out miserably, while other dragons glared at Tsunami.

"That was totally uncalled for," Fatespeaker said, glaring.

 **Her long, delicate snout, glowing emerald green with displeasure...**

"My scales don't glow," Glory said in a rather haughty manner.

"MINE DO!" Tsunami said, lighting her scales up and flashing them.

"You just said, _I hope the monkeys cleaned the bathtub, otherwise my coconut chocolate is going to sneeze,_ " Riptide translated, while Coral, Anemone, Auklet, and the other present SeaWings looked immensely amused.

 **... rested on her front claws. Ripples of iridescent blue shimmered across her scales, and tonight her tail was a swirl of vibrant purples.**

"Pretty!" said the RainWing, and then realized she could do the same thing, and stopped listening to the book as she watched her scales shift color.

"Is that really what I look like?" asked Glory, examining her talons as if they didn't belong to her.

 **If it weren't for Glory, Clay thought, none of them would know how many colors there were in the world. He wondered what it must be like in the rain forest, where there was a whole tribe of dragons that beautiful.**

"That is the first time I've heard someone call us something that isn't lazy," Glory said, grinning hugely at Clay. "And you're welcome."

 **"Shush," Tsunami scolded. "Now, obviously I'd be the best queen...**

Her friends snorted. "Of course."

 **...but let's make Sunny the queen, since she is a real SandWing."**

"Well, I'm the most SandWing of the five of us, but I'm part - " Sunny began, but Glory cut across her.

"No spoilers."

 **She bustled over and pushed Sunny into the center of the cave.**

"How rude!" Thorn exclaimed.

"More like bossy," Sunny corrected. "But that's okay! We're used to Tsunami being that way, and we love her no matter what!"

"Thanks," said the SeaWing.

 **"Well, sort of," Glory muttered under her breath.**

"I HEARD THAT!" Sunny yelled, her happy demeanor evaporating. "I AM STILL MORE SANDWING THEN YOU WILL EVER BE, GLORY."

"Someone hit a sore point..." Tsunami trailed off.

"Hsst," Starflight said, slashing his fingers back and forth across his throat in a silencing motion.

 **"Hsst." Starflight flicked her with his tail. None of the dragonets ever talked about why Sunny didn't look like a regular SandWing.**

"THREE MOONS," said Sunny.

"I think you look like a SandWing," Smolder offered, and then went right back to reading when he saw the murderous glare Thorn sent at him.

 **Clay's guess was that her egg had been taken from the sand too early. Maybe SandWing eggs needed the sun and desert sand to keep them them warm until hatching...**

"That's actually an interesting theory," Starflight mused. "Does anyone know if it's true?"

"Our eggs just need to be kept warm," Thorn told him. "They don't necessarily have to be kept in the sand."

 **...or else they came out half baked and funny looking -**

"YOU THINK I'M FUNNY-LOOKING?" Sunny exclaimed, looking extremely offended.

 **...although personally he thought Sunny looked just fine.**

"Okay, I guess not..." she said, and nestled close to Clay again. Peril glared.

 **Tsunami tapped her talons on the cave floor, studying her friends. "Clay, you want to play the scavenger?"**

"He'd probably rather eat it," said Glory jokingly, and then fell quiet when she saw the uncharacteristically malevolent glare Clay shot her.

 **"That's hardly fair," Starflight pointed out. "He's twice Sunny's size.**

"That's not my fault," Clay protested.

"We know," Sunny hastened to assure him. "And we love you just the way you are!"

Peril glared.

 **A real scavenger would be smaller than her, according to this scroll over here.**

"THREE MOONS, Starflight," Tsunami said in exasperation.

"Well, it's true," Starflight began to defend himself.

 **It says scavengers have no scales, no wings, and no tail, and they walk on two legs, which sounds very unstable to me. I bet they fall over all the time. They like treasure nearly as much as dragons do. The scrolls say scavengers attack lone dragons and steal -"**

"OH MY GOSH, WE KNOW," Glory interrupted. "Starflight, with you telling us stuff all the time, it's a wonder we haven't learned every single thing about Pyrrhia."

"You should thank me!" Starflight cried. "I've proven very useful in situations, especially when - "

 **"OH MY GOSH, WE KNOW,"** Smolder read.

"Thank you for agreeing with me," Glory said.

"No, I was reading what you said in the book," Smolder explained.

 **Glory snapped. "We were all here for the fascinating lectures about them. Don't make me come down there and bite you, Starflight."**

"That would require too much effort," Tsunami said, rolling her eyes.

"Lazy RainWings," Morrowseer muttered under his breath. "All the easier for our plan..."

"RAINWINGS ARE NOT LAZY," Glory declared angrily. "And by the way, you smug frog-face, we stop your plan and I'm now queen of the NightWings."

Morrowseer looked shocked, as did many of the NightWings from the past and other dragons who didn't know this fact.

Deathbringer shook his head, wrapping a wing around Glory protectively. "What did you say about spoilers?"

 **"I'd like to meet a real scavenger!" Clay said. "I'd rip off it's head! And eat it!"**

"Of course," said Clay.

 **He pounded his front talons on the stone below him. "I bet it would taste better than the mouthfuls of feathers Kestrel keeps bring us."**

Kinkajou made a face. "You ate feathers? That's weird. The poor birds!"

 **"Poor, hungry Clay," Sunny teased.**

 **"When we're free, we'll go find a scavenger nest and eat all of them," Tsunami promised, nudging Clay with one wing.**

"Oops," Tsunami deadpanned.

"I'm still upset that you didn't tell me the secret," Sunny admitted.

"It's not that we didn't trust you," Tsunami began to explain. "Except we didn't want to risk our plan being exposed because someone told the minders."

"So you didn't trust me."

 **Sunny blinked at her. "When we're free?"**

 _ **Oops.**_ **Tsunami and Clay exchanged glances. Sunny was sweet and trusting and absolutely terrible at keeping secrets.**

"I can keep secrets when I want to!" Sunny protested. "I didn't tell anyone about Moon's mind reading and future seeing powers!"

"Except now you just told everyone," Tsunami said, as Moon looked rather flustered and several dragonets attending Jade Mountain looked to her in surprise. Meanwhile, several of the NightWings from the past were disbelieving. They'd lost their powers centuries ago. There was no way a dragonet had them now.

 **"I mean, after we fulfill the prophecy, of course," Tsunami said.**

"Nice save," Riptide said sarcastically.

 **"Clay, be the scavenger. Here, this can be your claw." She swung her long will in an arc and smashed a stalagmite loose. Shards of rock flew across the cave, and the other dragonets ducked.**

"Show off," Glory muttered.

 **Clay hefted the sharp rock spear in his claws and grinned wickedly at Sunny.**

"Ooh, evil Clay!" Sunny squealed.

"You know, I really can't picture Clay as an evil dragon," Deathbringer said, apparently in deep thought.

"He's too nice," Tsunami added.

"And he's got fire-proof scales!" Peril finished, twining her tail with Clay's.

"Peril, on the other hand..." Deathbringer trailed off, laughing at the scandalized and murderous expression on Peril's snout. "I'm just kidding! I can't really talk, seeing as I worked as an assassin!"

 **"Don't _actually_ hurt me," she said nervously.**

"I wouldn't," Clay assured the smaller dragon.

"I know," Sunny beamed up at him.

Peril glared.

 **"Of course he won't," Tsunami said. "We're just acting it out. And the rest of us will be the princesses. I'll be Burn...**

Burn spread her wings magnificently so that she had all the attention in the assembly cave. "I'm way too good to be played by a mere SeaWing," she said.

"This is why we didn't ally ourselves with you," Coral commented drily.

 **...Glory can be Blister...**

Now Blister gained the attention of the assembly cave as she spoke condescendingly, looking down her snout at a very annoyed Glory. "I'm way too smart to be played by a lazy RainWing."

"Well, just for the record, I'm queen of two tribes and you're queen of no one," Glory said with a flick of her tail, changing her scales into a magnificent royal blue splashed with sparkling gold.

Blister looked outraged.

"So much for spoilers," said Deathbringer.

 **...and Starflight will be Blaze."  
**

There was a moment of silence at this statement, and then many dragons burst out laughing. Starflight looked the angriest he'd ever looked.

"Ahahaha," Tsunami giggled. "I forgot we had him do that..."

Once everyone calmed down, Blaze now spoke. "I'm way too pretty to be played by a mere NightWing!"

"I think Starflight should've been Blister, because he's smart," Fatespeaker suggested.

 **"I had to be a princess last time, too," Starflight observed. "I'm not sure I like this game."**

"Now I'm sure I don't like the game," Starflight commented, still looking angry and embarrassed.

 **He stretched his wings and the scattered silver scales underneath glittered like stars in the night sky.**

"Hmm, maybe he is pretty enough to play Blaze," Tsunami teased, and then got hit in the head with a scroll.

"I'm so sorry!" Starflight, who'd thrown the scroll, cried. He rushed towards Tsunami. "Are you okay?"

"Hmm? Yeah," Tsunami said.

Starflight scooped up the scroll and caressed it gently. "I'm so sorry I did that to you. You understand I was just getting revenge, right?"

The scroll said nothing.

Tsunami looked extremely miffed, while other dragons just looked at the Jade Mountain librarian, hopeless.

 **"It's not a game, it's _history,_ " Tsunami said. **

"Now you sound like Starflight."

 **"And if we had any other friends, we could play it differently. But there are three sand dragon princesses, so you have to be one, so stop complaining."**

"Bossy, bossy," Glory tsked.

"I'm thirsty," Smolder declared. "Someone should really bring some water here to drink."

"This mango tastes like water." Coconut the RainWing held out a half-eaten mango to the SandWing prince. "Maybe you could drink that?"

Kinkajou facetaloned.

"Um, I'm okay, you can finish eating that," Smolder said. "Who else wants to read?"

Sunny volunteered, and then continued...

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I'm not sure when I'll be able to update next. I can't find a version of the book online that will let me copy material, so it might not be for a while. I'm super sorry! Especially because I feel like such a hypocrite. Whenever I see these types of fan fictions, I always get upset when the author stops updating for similar reasons, and now I'm in the same situation. So please, if any of you know where I can get a source of the book online for free, please let me know and I will continue updating as soon as possible! Thank you all so much!


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